Ava woke up, restrained. He was on a table that was tilted at a 45-degree angle, just enough to get a good look at the room he was in. The table moved somewhat so that he was standing completely upright, albeit still suspended over the floor in his restraints.
The room was the normal room he was used to when transferring, there wasn't really much surprise where he was at first. That was, until his eye unblurred and he noticed the figure in front of him.
It was a young woman, long dark hair, pale complexion, shorter than your average standard issue Serv body. She was wearing a light green top and light green trousers, as well as a long white coat.
He didn't remember that model of Serv ever existing before.
"Who are you?" he asked, "this is Mars Central right? Where's the Major?"
The woman stepped back, she was clearly distressed, she tried to talk but was having trouble getting her words out.
"What is it? Let me go." Ava asked,
"O-ok. I'm sorry!" she rushed over to a control panel to the side of the room. Before she pressed any of the buttons she quickly picked up a phone and started mumbling into it.
"Well?"
"Sorry! Sorry!" she exclaimed. Eventually, she pushed the button on the panel to unlock the restraints.
Ava stumbled onto the floor, he was instantly aware of how strange his body felt. It lacked flexibility, it was frail and delicate, yet at the same time, it felt extremely heavy. Was this what a Block-3 body felt like?
He looked all over his body and suddenly noticed something distressing.
No visible joints. No shell. A curious bump where his groin was...
What happened to his body?
"Wh-what is this!?" he asked, "and you still haven't told me who you are!" he wanted to be more forceful but he could feel himself get woozy.
The woman rushed over to Ava before he collapsed and rested him on a chair near the table he was just on.
"I-I'm sorry sir, it may take some time for you to get used to your new body."
"What is this body?" he asked,
"Uhm..." the woman frowned and pulled out a large manual she had sitting on the table.
"Well?"
"Ok, no. Sorry, I'm afraid I have to explain this situation to you in the correct order."
"What situation?"
The woman bit her lip. "The texts say that a long time ago, you were brought here from the heavens by an angel. By the holy mother Aphrodite. See?" she pointed at a small statue standing on the table near to her. It was of a female body encased in red glass. "That's what most people believe."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"People believed this for quite a long time. But as science advanced and as we started to examine both your data and the holy texts, things before more apparent, as dictated by chapter 651 of the holy texts."
"Holy texts?"
The woman raised her eyebrow and then showed Ava the book she was holding.
"The Book of Rebirth. The textbook that recounts the birth of our race."
...What."
"Anyway. Chapter 651, the testimony of Aphrodite. The woman who helped build the new world and-" the woman gulped, "is apparently my ancestor. She wrote this part in explicit detail, and we spent tens of years trying to reproduce this part to so that it would be exactly the same as when it was first written."
"Ancestor?"
"This is a letter, which we believe has been written to you. Something that was meant to be a message for when you were revived."
"...Revived?"
"Can I read it to you? That's my job here."
Ava had trouble breathing. It was all jargon. He didn't really know what the woman was going on about. Ancestor? Did that mean that Aphrodite was... dead?
"Before you do. Tell me. You're calling Aphrodite your ancestor. Does that mean-"
"I-It's all in the letter."
"Fine."
The woman started to read
A letter to the saviour of the Serv and Mankind
Dear Ava,
If by some chance, this letter has managed to reach you, then it seems my plan worked. My one in a million plan of trying to ensure your wish comes true, actually worked.
I'll be very frank. When I sent your AI back to Mars, back when we were dying on the asteroid, I hard encrypted your AI with a timer. It was coded to a level that only a hacker on your level would be able to open up. Simply put, the AI was written so that it wouldn't be unlockable until 2000 years in the future.
That's right. Your wish to see if your choice to liberate the Servs worked, it was facilitated by me. I made it so that you'd wake up long long after we'd been off the network, I gave you the chance to see what things would be like far into the future. If you're hearing this then my ancestor, as directed in this manual I've written, should be reading this to you no-
Ava jolted and tried to get up, his body was too weak to move and he slumped over.
"What!? What did you say!?" he shouted, "two thousand years!?"
"Uhm, ah!" the woman was jumped back, terrified, "Y-yes! You're definitely very far into the future, I believe the text is implyi-"
"I get what the text is implying!" but he had trouble believing it was true. He'd been brought forward 2000 years into the future!? But-
"Shall I read the rest?"
Ava didn't reply. He was frowning, looking at the floor. It was difficult to process. The woman was about to read the book again until she realised something,
"O-oh sorry. I didn't introduce myself! I'm Dr. Mariella Aphrodite. I was brought in because the texts said you would find it easier to settle if you met someone who reminded you of the past. I'm also part of the project that required rebuilding this building and carrying out the will of the holy text. W-we didn't think it'd actually work bu-"
"Just keep reading." Ava groaned,
"Oh, ok."
I'm writing this at the age of 262. I can't tell you how many drafts of this letter I've written now, but I can tell you the troubles we went through in these last few decades.
Taking down the network meant everything went haywire. Our industry failed, our factories stopped running, long-range communication came to a halt... even Serv repair and reproduction became impossible. To make matters worse, we went through a civil war that lasted over tens of years.
You, the Major, Sylvie, you were peacekeepers all over Mars and Jupiter, you were legends. I suppose I was too, but I spent several decades going on a mission to find the other artificial humans that mother had made, I didn't lose hope that it'd be possible to bring them humanity without having to use the network transfer method.
So what happened? Thankfully, being off the network meant that some of the Servs developed a level of intelligence and rationality to be able to repair a lot of our technology, I helped too of course.
Ava could head Aphrodite's smug voice in those words,
The Serv learned how to reproduce without using the network, their bodies were modified and I helped create a model similar to that of humans, where emotion and physical contact was the main basis of creating life.
That changed everything.
Emotional and rational, two sides of the same coin, they became one of the defining traits of Servs. They were truly starting to become human. Yes, it took a long time, but it happened Ava. They became human.
As for myself? Well, the new system also made it so that Serv bodies deteriorated faster. The average Serv lifespan is about 150 years now, we don't have the technology to transfer AIs anymore, so death truly means death. If your body fails. It fails. I've outlasted everyone because I integrated Mother's infinity engine into myself, I took the mission onto myself to see that Serv society managed to stabilise itself somewhat, and to be satisfied with this letter I've written to you. Now that I am? Well, I'll be taking the engine out in the next few weeks. I'm ready to die.
The Major, Sylvie, and yourself, you all died eventually, it was sad to see you go but you all lived fruitful and incredible lives. You think your adventures on Jupiter were something? They're nothing compared to what your other self experienced when he came back.
A lot of them are chronicled in this text, as well as more historical records, so I urge you to read them, although no doubt they'll be somewhat bastardised in the future.
Oh, and Sylvie, the Sylvie on Earth, the Sylvie that died for everyone.
We rescued her body.
Her body was encased in the preservative gel that flooded the facility. She's still dead, cancer did her in, but the gel has managed to perfectly maintain the structure of her body, even though her AI dissolved, her body remained undamaged. We found that breaking the gel would most likely break her as well. In her honour we buried her body in the perfect condition it was in when she died, still encased in that gel. Theoretically, her body should still be in perfect condition, even thousands of years from now.
Ava looked at the statue on the table. The female body encased in red glass... could it be-
I wonder what things will be like 2000 years from now? Seeing as you're hearing this now, it can't be too bad, right?
I wish you the very best Ava. Just so you know.
I miss you.
Enjoy your new life.
Yours, truly, with the love of all myself and all the Servs in the world,
Thank you.
Ava still stayed silent.
His friends were dead.
His society was gone.
The world had changed.